Read our latest edition of the Belmont Abbey College Magazine.
Crossroads
Abbey Alum, Bill Ficke, Featured in Miami Herald
Former Belmont Abbey College basketball player, Bill Ficke, opened Big Bill’s New York Pizza in 1995. One week after the attacks on September 11th, the restaurant held its first fundraiser for a fireman’s fund in New York. Since that fundraiser, the restaurant has continued to hold fundraisers reaching up to $170,000 in donations in a single year!
The Gift of a Lifetime: Honoring Fr. Chris Kirchgessner
Allison Simmons ‘26, BAC Marketing Intern
Father Christopher, O.S.B. grew up in New Albany, Indiana, the second of six children. He was raised Catholic, and the Church and the parish school were very influential in the life of his family, but the thought of becoming a priest did not surface for him until high school, despite the fact that one of the nuns teaching at his primary school offered him a scholarship to a Franciscan minor seminary.
It was his parish priest who first inspired Fr. Chris even to consider the priesthood as a possibility. When his father’s work in the tobacco industry brought the family to Durham, NC, Fr. Chris stayed behind to complete his senior year of high school, and it was then that he started thinking more seriously about his vocation. As a way of discerning the priesthood, he attended Saint Meinrad College in Indiana, where the idea began to take on distinct shape.
Over the summers during college, Fr. Chris worked in parishes in the archdiocese. Despite how much he enjoyed this parish work, however, his experience at St. Meinrad drew him towards the monastic life. Nevertheless, he feared that if he entered St. Meinrad, he would not be able to see his family as much as he would like.
So when Fr. Chris became aware that there was a Benedictine monastery in North Carolina, he made plans to visit. “I think vocations are mysteries,” Father reflects today. He had fully intended to pursue parish life. Yet in 1975, he found himself writing a note to Fr. Keiran, the Abbey’s (then) vocations director. Here was a place not far from his family, where he could live out his priestly vocation, serve young people, and embrace a monastic community as he felt drawn to do. But this also wasn’t a calculation. It was a calling, which deepened as Fr. Chris took the next step as a monk of Belmont Abbey. Father entered the novitiate in July of 1975.
Life, service, family
Throughout his years at the Abbey, Fr. Chris has maintained close relationships with his family, joking that his four sisters are like extra mothers: they always know better than he does what’s best for him. Before making his vows, as he considered possible names, he remembers asking his mom and dad what they thought. His parents said that if they had ever had another son they would have named him Christopher. And without telling them, that is the name he chose.
After his ordination in 1980, Fr. Chris began teaching in the theology department, where he has impacted students for decades. During this time he also served for periods as Dean of Students, Prior, and Novice Master, but to this day, he most enjoys finding new ways to encourage each generation of students to consider theology and take their education seriously. “I like the subject, and I like the challenge,” says Fr. Chris. “I’ll teach for as long as I can.” The art of teaching has changed substantially since the beginning of his career, but throughout his years as a professor, Fr. Chris has offered each class his trademark compassion, directness, and humor. “One of the things I really, really like about Belmont Abbey,” he notes, “is the close relationship between the monks and the students. You don’t see that everywhere. It’s a gift that we’ve been given.”
Father stays in touch with many former students, catching up with some of them even weekly. “Mentoring students is just a gift,” he says, grateful when these relationships expand to friendships with alumni’s growing families. Over the years, he has officiated at many weddings, baptized many children, and even mentored students who have followed their parents to the Abbey, and he remains a cherished friend to many alumni.
In addition to his teaching, with the help of the Benedictine Volunteer Corps (BVC) at St. John’s Abbey, Fr. Chris started Belmont Abbey’s own BVC, which is now in its fifteenth year. Fr. Chris is still excited to discuss and plan it each summer, always ready to reimagine the program to ensure that it thrives. As students bring back their transformative stories, he recognizes a lasting legacy of service, which he hopes will continue for generations.
Reflecting on over fifty years at Belmont Abbey, Fr. Chris notes that monastic life, like other vocations, “is about relationships. Relationships take time, hard work, and prayer. It is about being a family.” And it is a gift.
The Science of Lifelong Learning: Honoring Dr. Mike McLeod
Dr. Abigail Cousino, Asst. Professor of Biology and Biochemistry
Anyone who has stepped foot into the William Gaston Science Building in the last 50 or so odd years has probably heard the ringing baritone of Dr. Michael (Mike) McLeod lecturing on Cell Biology… and trembled at the knees. Known for banging his fist down on the desk to snap his students back to attention, Dr. McLeod has been the gauntlet every biology student must survive to prove his or her mettle.
Dr. McLeod graduated with his Bachelor of Science in biology in 1969. He then served in the military from 1970-1974, during which time he also completed his Master of Science in biology. He then continued his education, earning his Ph.D. in zoology from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio in 1977.
Belmont Abbey College hired Dr. McLoed to help rebuild the Biology Department in 1978. Along with two of his colleagues, Betty Baker and Eunice Cronin, the three built the department from the ground up.
A career begins
Prof. McLeod made his way through the ranks, earning full professorship in 1986. While continuing to teach at the Abbey, he also served as an American Council on Education Fellow and Assistant to the Vice President for Academic Affairs at Winthrop College in Rock Hill, SC from 1987-1988. From 1988-1991 he was the Assistant Vice President for Academic Affairs at Belmont Abbey, and in the summers of 1990 and 1992 he served as the Acting and Interim Vice President for Academic Affairs, respectively. In the summer of 1993, he served as the Interim VP of Student Affairs, and from 1991-1995 he was the Director of the Adult Degree Program as well as the Director of the Weekend College, both programs focused on continuing education for non-traditional students.
Continuing the impressive overlap of duties and responsibilities, from 1991-2001 he served as Associate VP for Academic Affairs and from 1995-2000 as the VP for Student Life and Dean of Students. Exemplifying his dedication to both science and education, McLeod has published over 20 first author papers and coauthored several more, publications which have been cited over 600 times on ResearchGate. His papers cover topics spanning from the early evolution of chili peppers to education at a Liberal Arts College to Pearl Harbor; his impressive breadth of knowledge and curiosity speaks to his role as an academic and a life-long learner.
Local service
Dr. McLeod is committed to community outreach and growth, serving on the Gaston County Urban Water Quality Committee (1996-1998), the Voices and Choices Regional Environmental Planning Committee (1999-2001), the Centrolina Council of Governments Catawba River Corridor Study Steering Committee (1994), the Dropout Prevention Task Force, and much more.
In 2009 he served on a panel for the North Carolina Health Professions Advisors Association, advising pre-medicine students. He has also presented to the Gaston County Community many times, discussing topics such as water supply protection legislation, environmental issues, energy, and peak oil.
Department leadership
Dr. McLeod has been awarded several grants for the development of math and science programs. Under McLeod’s leadership, the biology department received over $600,000 in grants, with the latest Cannon grants allowing for the renovation of the general biology lab in 2017 and 2019.
From 2006-2018 Dr. McLeod served as the Chair of the Department of Biology, and from 2002 to the present he has been the Director of the Environmental Science Program. From 2017- 2018 he also served as Chair of the Division of Natural Sciences and Mathematics. He has earned many awards and honors, including the Adrian Faculty Excellence Award, which he received in both 2006 and 2021, and the Spirit of St. Benedict Award in 2008.
Joy of 50 years
Mike has been married to his wife Dianne for 53 years, and their daughter, Jessica, who earned her Ph.D. in anthropology, serves on the development staff at Westen Michigan University. He loves traveling and has been to all 7 continents and all 50 states. His latest adventure took him to Antarctica, where he got to practice his wildlife photography skills. He played the bagpipes for many years in Ceol na Gael Irish Pipe Band and acted in several Abbey Player performances, with his favorite role as Prince Escalus in Romeo and Juliet.
Dr. McLeod strives to offer rigorous courses to prepare students for graduate education or a job. He has been the soul of the department for many years, carrying on beloved traditions, such as Deck the Deer, Senior Night, Senior Brunch, and many more! He can often be found whistling or singing as he preps for labs, and he’s always ready to tell a story about past students or explain the citric acid cycle and the flow of blood through the heart. He cares deeply for the Abbey, the Biology Department, and most importantly, his students. The Abbey has been blessed to have such a great man and teacher dedicate 48 years of service to this community.
The Show Goes On: Honoring Simon Donoghue
Laura Schaffer, Editor
“If you work for the Abbey Players, they give you scope,” Simon Donoghue said, his face folding from deadpan into the singular, signature grin that generations of Abbey Players have come to know and love. Scope. It was the perfect word, and he knew it.
Scope, after all, captures not just the resourcefulness of Abbey Players through the years – as they face creative challenges and master a wide variety of skills – but also the breadth of experience they still explore and express each semester on stage. No wonder there’s such a culture of resilience and humor in the Belmont Abbey Performing Arts.
It was my pleasure to interview Simon in the weeks before he received his Lifetime Achievement Award. Here is a small part of what I learned that day about this kind and extraordinary man.
Simon Donoghue came to Belmont Abbey to discern monastic life. Entering the monastery after graduating from the University of Virginia, he made Simple Vows in 1975 and remained in discernment with the community until 1978.
What began as a young man discerning religious life would remain a vocation story, though the path would unwind in unexpected ways as Simon brought his considerable and attentive energy, his creativity, and his responsive care to the campus community. It would lead him to marriage, and to a different kind of service than he envisioned on arrival in 1974.
Over the years, Simon’s many roles at the Abbey have included reference librarian; professor of Theatre Arts; Chair of the Faculty Assembly; instructor of History, German and Great Books;
founding editor of the monastery’s Crescat publication; archivist; and Interim Library Director. However, the almost five decades he served as Director of the Abbey Players speak to his greatest Belmont Abbey legacy: as a teacher, mentor, friend, and inspiration to generations of Abbey students.
Alongside legends like Frs. John Oetgen and Paschal Baumstein – both of whom were close personal friends and mentors – Simon Donoghue has taken his place as an Abbey Players icon.
Early years
Simon’s relationship with his wife, Debbie, itself hearkens back to Abbey theater. While on a monastic visit to St. Gertrude’s, a Richmond Benedictine high school, Simon had noticed the young woman who swept onstage at the end of 7 Nuns in Las Vegas. And when Debbie auditioned for Anastasia as an Abbey undergraduate the next year, he recognized the commanding mother superior.
Debbie was a dynamo. She led Student Government, became the first female Student of the Year, and danced through every “Friday Night Thing” in original dresses sewed the day of the party. After Anastasia rehearsal one night, Simon told his college roommate, “I have no intention of leaving the monastery, but I have the weirdest feeling I’m going to marry that woman.” Five years later, Debbie walked to the basilica in a wedding dress she’d made herself, and she and Simon were married. Christopher was born a year and a half later.
Prior to Simon’s tenure, the theatre temporarily occupied St. Leo’s ground floor. With Grace Auditorium condemned and crumbling overhead, the Abbey Players had salvaged the original (1904) lighting board, uprooted the auditorium chairs, and erected a stage. They’d spray-painted paint cans and used them to rig lights. And sometimes they’d make stage exits out the window.
A new theatre
By 1979, three years after Abbot Jude Cleary asked Simon to be the Abbey Players’ Director, the theatre had relocated to the Haid. And while 1987 would see a full renovation, in the meantime the Abbey Players continued practicing resourcefulness. They built a 3-foot stage with a screen behind it, stacked chairs between performances, and even painted unclaimed objects black to appropriate them for theatrical use.
In the end, makeshift space never phased the Abbey Players, who dove into everything from You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown (Simon’s musical directorial debut) to Follies, and from Fr. Paschal’s original adaptation of Come Rack, Come Rope to the musical Godspell or Shakespeare’s Richard III. Fr. Paschal inspired a Shakespearean series and continually challenged students and Simon alike to shatter their comfort zones. Today, the same joyful, creative ambition remains an Abbey Players hallmark, cultivating a vibrant campus culture which, under Simon’s leadership, extended to include members of the external community, further enriching student experience and expanding performing local arts networks.
Simon also played a vital role in establishing the performing arts as a recognized academic department at Belmont Abbey College, with majors, minors, and a premier scholarship named for Fr. John Oetgen.
If you ask Simon about his story, you’ll inevitably hear more about student and colleague accomplishments than about his own, a fact which perfectly underscores the profound sincerity, kindness, tenacity, and generosity that has impacted so many community members throughout his nearly 50 years as Director of the Abbey Players.
Today, Belmont Abbey Performing Arts continue to thrive under the leadership of Kristin Hayes, Chair of the Performing Arts Department, and Christopher Donoghue, Director of the Abbey Players. That students with diverse views and backgrounds continue to build flourishing community on the Abbey stage is, in no small part, thanks to Simon Donoghue’s legacy. “Theater opens people up,” Simon notes. It gives them scope.
